A crowd gathered in Prospect, Kentucky on Saturday to denounce the violence in Pakistan that left more than 100 children dead.

"Everybody has been stunned and just totally speechless. We cannot believe someone would do something like this to children," said protester Siddique Malik.

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Authorities said Taliban militants stormed into a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Tuesday and killed at least 145 people, most of whom were students.

Pakastani-Americans at the protest told WLKY that the senseless act hits too close to home, even an ocean away.

"We were worrying about our finals in the U.S. We were caring that we might fail and stressing out about that," student Chitra Kumar said. "To hear something like this has happened in a country we really do belong to, it shows how we can't take life for granted."

Some could barely contain their emotions as they spoke about the tragedy.

Many in attendance were close in age to the victims they honored.

"In America, we go to school and have faith that our teachers will protect us. We have lockdown drills," said Danyl Bhutto. "In Pakistan, what happened is unbearable. There's no justification for any of this."

Ashvanika Dodwani said she was shocked by the massacre.

"They went there to be something that we all want to be and they lost their lives. They didn't deserve this," Dodwani said.

Others told WLKY the attack was everything they're against and the Taliban need to be stopped.

"We believe terrorism has no religion. We believe Islam is a religion of peace," said Fareed Bhutto.

"It was a premeditated act of mass murder by cowards and terrorists. We should condemn it and join hands to beat terrorism once and forever," Malik said.

Authorities said most of the students killed in the attack were between the ages of 12 and 16.